When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports in front of a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his coach back then predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
That prediction turned out to be something of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with Bournemouth, the playmaker has just received his maiden summons to the full England squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential England player is a proper blast from the past, a journey rarely told in the modern game.
What’s next? A major tournament?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a professional football player, never mind featuring in the top division and playing for the national team as well,” the player stated previously.
“It has been a incredible five or six years of my life, and circumstances have transformed drastically for myself and my family.”
But how did Alex Scott, referred to affectionately as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Developing in non-league
His football journey has not been a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s academy setup from the age of eight, leaving school early every Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Prior to his 13th birthday, however, they released him. Bournemouth gave Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his heart wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he chose to stay on the island and play for his hometown club.
“My form had dipped and flying over every week was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“All I desired to chill at my home with my mates at weekends because I had missed nearly several years of that experience. To have that little bit of childhood again was a thing I definitely needed.
“To gain a bit of confidence by coming back and playing local football was huge for me. That proved to be perhaps the most crucial things that got me where I am today.”
At the age of 16, Scott became the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute replacement in their league fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was trying to work out how I could include him in the side because he’s that good,” manager Tony Vance commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his retention of the ball is outstanding, the manner he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Second-tier club the Robins – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his development after an impressive start in men’s football and gave him a try-out in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” said the player. “The first day I trained with the under-18s, the second day I was with the first team, which was a complete surprise.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in the capital, travelled back and on the Friday, I took the field for the youth team and netted a three goals. From that point a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
Within 18 months, even well before his 18th birthday, he was making his first-team debut versus the Hatters.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes in attack as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Even at that young age and playing out of position he was their best player.
Thanks to his ability to carry the ball forward, and with his socks down to his ankles, he earned the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 campaign he claimed the second tier’s young player of the season award, was selected in the league’s best XI and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I believe he will represent his country and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the game,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at Ashton Gate, stated last year.
Less than 90 days after, he joined the Cherries for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Securing his major transfer
The midfielder endured a difficult debut campaign with the Cherries, having to wait until October to earn his top-flight debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then finding himself in and out of the starting XI.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for almost four months.
“I had a decent run at the end of last season, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” explained he.
“It was almost another setback and it was turning out to be quite a terrible start for the first half.”
But he was then selected by England for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they claimed victory in the tournament in Slovakia, forming a strong understanding in the middle with his teammate, who himself has excelled for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has begun the current campaign equally as impressively for Bournemouth, playing in every game to guide them to fifth in the standings.
“To play for the national team would be one of the proudest occasions of my career,” Scott stated earlier this season.
“It’s down to me, I’ve got to continue developing as a player, keep enjoying football, improving every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the England manager and earn an opportunity.”
